[03] BoG: Greek banks do not need approval to sell claims to third parties

A man arrested over the stabbing of a 34-year-old in Keratsini, Piraeus
district, late last night is being led before a Piraeus magistrate on
Wednesday, as his admission of being a Golden Dawn follower unleashed
condemnations of the party by the government and across the political
spectrum.

According to police, the man admitted he belonged ideologically to the
Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avghi) extreme-right party, whose main offices on
Messoghion Avenue in Athens were searched by order of the prosecutor.

The young man who died, 34, belonged to the left ideologically and his
family was well-known in the area, as his father had been a member of the
Piraeus Metal Syndicate. He and the arrested man broke into a scuffle in
a cafeteria in the area of Amfiali; as he was leaving on his motorcycle,
he was attacked by a group of about 15 people in combat fatigues. A car
crossed lanes, stopped, and its driver came out and stabbed the young
man in the chest.

Before he died, the 34-year-old pointed out to motorcycle unit police
(Dias) the man who had stabbed him.

Leftist groups have scheduled a protest rally at Zarden Square in
Amfiali at 5:00 pm, while the Movement Against Racism and the Fascist
Threat said the incident was a planned attack by Golden Dawn members,
naming the young man as "Paul Fyssas, antifascist".

Golden Dawn party condemned the killing unequivocally and explicitly
denied its involvement in the incident, saying that "those who are taking
advantage of a tragic event to issue political statements, garner votes
and divide Greek society are wretched and vile".

"Justice will perform its duty immediately and totally", government
spokesman Simos Kedikoglou stated on Wednesday after the stabbing
death of 34-year-old Pavlos Fyssas in Keratsini by a supporter of
extreme-right Chryssi Avghi (Golden Dawn) party and called on all the
political powers to "put up a barricade against the vicious circle of
tension and violence".

Kedikoglou also noted that "democracy needs stability, prudence and
responsibility by all". The government, he said, was "the first government
to condemn raw violence coming from Golden Dawn. We were the first to
callthem neo-Nazis. Violence will not pass. The strategy of tension will
not pass".

Parties reacted strongly on Wednesday over the stabbing, condemning for
the most part the violence as coming from the Golden Dawn party.

Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) said that the incident was "the apex of
the criminal action of the extreme-right neo-Nazis of Golden Dawn in our
country" and called for the exemplary punishment of the perpetrators,
"without dangerous compromises".

The main opposition party, which held an emergency meeting on the
incident, also asserted that "all destabilisation attempts will fail" and
said the question that needed an answer was "who is arming the murderous
hand of extreme-rightists". It also called on "all democracy-abiding
citizens to attend the antifascist protest rally at Zarden/Nikis Square,
P. Tsaldari street in Amfiali, this afternoon (Wednesday).

PASOK, in an announcement on Wednesday, called Chryssi Avghi "a criminal
organisation".

The party urged that "issues regarding Greek citizens' lives should be
resolved immediately. Chryssi Avghi must be seen as what it truly is:
a criminal organisation directed against migrants' and Greek citizens'
lives".

Independent Greeks (ANEL) proposed the establishment of "a patriotic
democratic front against the black alliance" and warned that "as long
as neo-Nazis, with the urgings of politicians and so-called journalists
are planning to rise in ruling power like new allies of the coalition
of Greece's creditors, they will keep revealing their real role".

Golden Dawn must be "institutionally asphyxiated", Democratic Left
(DIMAR) party said in its announcement that called incidents involving
Golden Dawn "expected". It also said the incident proved the importance
of the party's initiative to bring the antiracist law in Parliament in
the previous government, to deal with Golden Dawn among others.

"It was expected that the rhetoric of hate by Golden Dawn and the beatings
and thuggery by its officers and members would soon lead to a political
assassination climate," it said.

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) called on Greeks, especially young
people, to condemn the killing. "Golden Dawn's murderous and criminal
activity aims to terrify workers and the youth. It has become emboldened
by the multiple support supplied to it by the corrupt capitalist system
and the large economic interests that have borne it and nourish it in
order to attack those who are struggling and protesting and to attack
the labour and popular movement".

ANA-MPA/Greece's current account deficit shrank by almost 100 pct in the
January-July period this year, compared with the same period in 2012,
the Bank of Greece said on Wednesday.

The central bank, in a report, said that the current account deficit
fell to 155 million euros in the seven-month period, from 6.4 billion
euros in 2012, a decline of 97.6 pct. The central bank attributed this
development to a significant reduction in the country's trade deficit and
to a increase in the surpluses of current account transfers and services.

In July 2013, the current account balance showed a surplus of 2.7
billion euros, up by 2.2 billion year-on-year. This development is
mainly due to an inflow of 1.5 billion euros - representing the first
installment of the income on the Securities Markets Programme (SMP)
portfolio accruing to the ECB, payable to Greece. At the same time, the
trade deficit contracted, while the services surplus rose. By contrast,
the income account deficit recorded an increase.

The trade deficit fell by 207 million euros, on account of a 164 million
decrease in the net oil import bill. The trade deficit excluding oil and
ships recorded a slight decline of 16.5 million, as a result of higher
export receipts (up by 135 million or 11.7 percent) and a higher import
bill (up by 118 million or 6.4 pct). Finally, net payments for purchases
of ships also dropped by 27 million.

The surplus of the services balance increased by 257 million euros,
exclusively owing to a significant rise in net travel receipts (up by 265
million) and a slight increase in net receipts from "other" services (up
by 7 million). By contrast, net transport receipts dropped slightly. The
rise in the surplus of the travel services balance is mainly attributable
to a 258 million (or 12.3%) increase in travel spending by non-residents
in Greece (also reflecting a 14.0% rise in non-resident travellers'
arrivals, according to the Bank of Greece's border survey), while travel
spending by residents abroad declined by 6.2 million (or 3.1%).

The income account deficit rose by 209 million euros, mainly as a result
of higher net interest, dividend and profit payments.

Finally, the current transfers balance showed a 1.9 billion euros surplus
in July 2013, against a 100 million deficit in July 2012.

In the January-July 2013 period, the current account deficit fell by
6.2 billion euros (or 97.6 pct) year-on-year, to 156 million. This
development is attributable, primarily, to a significant decline in the
trade deficit (down by 3.0 billion) and, secondarily, to increases in
the current transfers and services surpluses (up by 2.4 billion and 774
million, respectively); the income account deficit also narrowed. The
considerable improvement in the current transfers balance is chiefly
attributable to these developments in July.

In more detail, the trade deficit shrank owing to respective declines
in the net oil import bill by 2.2 billion (or 33.4 pct), in the trade
deficit excluding oil and ships by 677 million (or 12.4 pct), and in net
payments for purchases of ships by 134 million (or 18.0 pct). Receipts
from exports of goods excluding oil and ships rose by 4.2 pct, while
the corresponding import bill fell by 2.6 pct.

Travel spending in Greece by non-residents grew by 15.5 pct
year-on-year. At the same time, travel spending by residents abroad fell
by 7.4 pct. As a result, the travel balance showed a 4.6 billion euros
surplus, compared with 3.8 billion in the same period of 2012.

The income account deficit fell by 106 million year-on-year, mainly
owing to a decline in net interest payments on Greek government bonds
held by non-residents (following the PSI).

Finally, the current transfers balance showed a surplus of 3.8 billion,
up by 2.4 billion year-on-year.

[03] BoG: Greek banks do not need approval to sell claims to third parties

The sale of credit institutions' claims to third parties does not
require approval or updating by the Bank of Greece, which has the
responsibility over the supervision of such claims to evaluate risk
management, a report by the central bank said on Wednesday.

The report was submitted to Parliament in response to deputies' questions
over the possibility foreign distress funds would buy Greek banks'
bad loans.